


to be the teacher's pet

by lolnothanksfam



Category: Killing Eve (TV 2018)
Genre: Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Teacher-Student Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-16
Updated: 2019-06-16
Packaged: 2020-05-12 17:32:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19233844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolnothanksfam/pseuds/lolnothanksfam
Summary: Eve remembers when she had officially learned about the allegations of misconduct against the young french professor Anna Leonova. She also remembers finding Oksana Astankova crying in the bathroom that same day.It could have been a coincidence. It probably wasn’t.It probably definitely wasn’t.---Student-Teacher AU, please give it a tryThis is a re-post with a new name because I decided I wanted to take the story a different direction. Enjoy!





	to be the teacher's pet

In hindsight, Eve probably should have seen this coming. It was inevitable that they would get caught at some point. They were too reckless, too _careless_. And now she had to deal with the consequences..

\----

Eve Polastri remembers the first time she’d met Villanelle as clear as day. It wasn’t everyday that you got a new student so close to the end of the year- especially not one that the staff had to have an official meeting about. Dr. Frank Haleton, the stocky bearded man who also happened to be principal stood in front of amass of staff to give a thirty minute power-point about accepting new students for who they were. It was a change from protocol, odd since P. W. Bridge Academy as a small private school that fully catered to the bliss of ignorance when it came to inclusion in the classroom. Eve hadn’t believed in it, but no teacher was ever fired over such a thing as ignoring a student’s background. 

The first time Eve Polastri had met Oksana Aksankova, it was the student’s freshman year. She was one of those kids that transferred mid-year, the ones that kind of faded into the background of the class and never spoke much. When she did speak, it was with a heavy Russian accent that made it a little hard to understand her at times. She was smart, too smart for her own good. Eve had to break up verbal spats between her and the other students on many occasions when class discussions became too controversial. 

Oksana wasn’t someone to underestimate, and she loathed being touched by anyone. But she did her homework, didn't speak to anyone else. She just.. existed. 

Eve had been her English teacher funnily enough, but suppose for a lack of time with the end of the year quickly approaching she hadn’t taken the time to properly get to know the young woman. And so, they both went on their separate ways and the next year Eve was transferred to the counseling department of the school. It was less face-time with students and more paperwork, but apart from the obligatory schedule meeting at the end of each year, they didn’t speak to one another.

But Eve did observe Oksana from afar, as she did all of her former students. She watched the young woman return the next year with an english accent rivaling her schoolmates in accuracy and a more demure go about her uniform choices. She even made a friend or two and was well on track to graduate on time, if not early. 

Oksana was also exceptional at French, reflected by her grades. . Mrs. Leonova was known to grade fairly. But a constant 100 in the class called for a congratulations. Eve had disliked French in school, she’d opted for Spanish so she could take the summer class trip to Spain and see the world. It was easy and basically English so she’d passed with a low A-.

____

It was the end of the girl’s junior year when Eve and Oksana’s three year of radio silence had ended. The word abruptly would barely do it justice. It was the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday and Eve had just returned from a conference with some meat-headed football player who couldn’t pass his classes to save his life. 

Eve had found her in the women's bathroom outside her office sobbing into her hands on the floor. It was loud and dramatic, almost as if she wanted someone to spot her but with how distraught she was there was no way it was intentional.

They say that heartbreak sounds like guitar strings snapping.. and if it were true, then Oksana's heartbreak would have crippled a whole orchestra. Eve wasn't sure if she was prepared for this situation, college visits and make up credits were more her forte. Maybe there was a pamphlet for the girl in her office somewhere _“How to deal with Break-ups 101”_ or something similarly 'universal'. 

Eve watched the young girl, awkwardly as ever, wrenched her hands and closed the door to the restroom before locking it so that they could be alone. "Oksana?"

The young student was sitting against the wall with her knees pulled up to her chest. She looked so small and fragile from her spot, make-up running down her cheeks and eyes puffy from tears. Eve wondered what boy had broken her heart, how he'd done it. She’d seen many breakups in the halls over the years, it was an essential part of high school. But Eve wasn’t even aware that she had been dating someone. Oksana barely even glanced in Eve’s direction, only cried harder into her hands. . 

This is bad, Eve told herself, moving to join Oksana on the floor. “I…” she began, but fell short. She didn’t quite know what to say.

Eve had had her heart broken once in high school. His name was Adam and he'd ended up leaving her over something stupid that all these years Eve couldn't bring herself to remember. Maybe it had something to do with her father being over protective? Or accidental food poisoning on her part? Who knew. She quickly realized she was ill-experienced so instead she just placed a hand over Oksana’s and prayed it would be enough.

Apparently it wasn't. As if she were shocked by the touch, the girl beside her suddenly paused in her weeping as if she hadn’t been crying at all. Five seconds later she turned and plopped her head into Eve’s lap, resuming with the crocodile tears all the same. How odd. Eve’s eyes widened, hesitantly placing a hand on her shoulder to stroke her arm. What else was she supposed to do? “It’s okay,” she cooed softly, letting the girl cry it out.

The counselor let this continue for some time, until Oksana was only sniffling into her lap. “You know.. I have some tissues in my office if you’d like to move there.” She offered lightly, stroking her shoulder but the girl remained still until all the tears were dry from her face. She picked herself up, seemingly embarrassed by her own actions. “I’m sorry Mrs. Polastri.. I don’t know what came over me..” she apologized with red cheeks. 

Eve studied her for a moment, the total distraught look in her eyes almost broke her own heart. “You know.. I have no idea who wronged you but you wanna know what I say? Fuck em. Bring them hell. Boys can be such jerks.”

_____

Later that evening the staff was pulled into an emergency meeting after hours to discuss dark allegations against a fellow teacher of theirs. The library was full of hushed whispers and shifty eyes from teacher to teacher. 

Eve hadn’t seen the news article but she’d heard about it from Jenn. There was foul-play in the teaching staff at P. W. Bridge Academy. She could spot Niko on the other side of the library with a grave look on his face. 

When Bill, the well respected vice principal, entered the library there was a sigh of relief that spread through the staff. Soon after he was followed by an older looking woman with short hair. She looked remarkable, soft skin and eyes. Eve was.. well, a little jealous of it. 

“Evening folks, I know this isn’t something we look forward to but I felt it was better if we addressed this head on and face to face. Frank’s mother, as you all know, is ill so he could not be here tonight but he sends his regards and trusts me to debrief everyone on the situation at hand.” He eyed the crowd with that straight face of his, eyes finding Eve’s kindly. 

“First I would like to introduce Carolyn Martens, she’s our new school Social Worker that has been provided by the board.” 

There was a hesitant round of applause for the woman who merely regarded the crowd before returning to the stack of papers in her arms. 

“Now, I’m sure many of you here have heard rumors and I am here to regrettably tell you that they are true. There have been serious allegations made by a student of ours that she has been involved in an inappropriate relationship with a teacher. The student who shall be both nameless and blameless, has submitted a substantial amount of evidence to the school board and because of this we have had to let Mrs. Leonova go. The safety of our students has been our number one priority since day one and…” the words falling from Bill’s mouth started to fall away as Eve began to deconstruct her afternoon with Oksana in the bathrooms. Eve thought she might puke. 

____

It _could_ have been a coincidence. It _probably_ wasn’t. 

It _probably_ , **_definitely_** , wasn’t. 

_____

“Good riddance,” Niko had said once, at a bar the next week with all of their friends, “We don’t need that kind of trash at our school.. relationships with a  _ student _ ,” he scoffed, smoothing down his mustache before he took another sip of his beer.

They’d met Eve’s second year of teaching English, his Algebra class had been conveniently placed across from her in the hall. One afternoon he’d asked her to coffee and knocked her up two years later. She did love him, he was her husband and that had to count for something. He was caring and thoughtful and a wonderful dad. 

Despite this, Eve was suddenly beginning to realize why adults had a midlife crisis’.

“Don’t you think so Eve?” Niko had asked, a blank staring Eve who’d suddenly blinked to life, “Ye- Yeah!” She agreed a little too eagerly, a little too easily. 

She wasn't sure what she thought, honestly. She remembered the Christmas Staff party, Anna had brought her newly-wedded husband. They were nauseating with how cute they were and Eve wasn't sure she could see the woman pursuing a student when she was so obviously in love. Or thought she was in love, Eve reminds herself, glancing at her own husband. 

\----

When Eve saw Oksana over the summer it was as if she was slapped in the face with a bottle of vodka. It was in a _Whole Foods_ of all places, the lithe teenager was arguing with a man in the middle of the pasta aisle in Russian. Eve had missed her accent, in a strange way. 

The two had stopped bickering as soon as Oksana had spotted her, throwing a smile on in greeting. “Oh Mrs. Polastri! Hi,” she greeted, accent morphing in her mouth back to an English one. The man beside her grumbled for a moment before slapping her in the back of the head. 

“Use your maiden tongue, it’s no good for you too.. adapt to life like this,” he warned, waving a finger at the teenager who merely snapped at his fingers with her teeth. 

“Oksana, how’s your summer going?” Eve asked with a smile, wondering if she tilted her head to a certain degree that it would make it look like she cared more. 

“Good. Boring as ever.” Her accent back to its original state, with an added eye roll to the end. 

Eve chuckled kindly, “I suppose that’s better than a bad summer. I always spent my summers with my extended family in Korea.” she revealed, turning to the portly man beside her dressed in a black sweatshirt and jeans. “Please excuse my rudeness, are you Oksana’s father?” Eve had asked, instantly acknowledging the way Oksana had tensed beside him at the word.

The man let out a surprised chuckle at the question, “Oh no, not at all. I’m her uncle- I’ve been acting as her guardian in the states while she gets a quality education.” He explained with a smile that didn’t quite meet his eyes. 

Eve was about to respond when Oksana immediately cut in to interrupt the conversation, “Hate to chat and run but we have a show on in a half hour. Season finale.”

The teacher smiled, “Ah I see. Well then, I should let you get to it then huh? I’ll see you in August Ms. Astankova.”

___

Carolyn Martens had unexpectedly approached Eve one morning when she was at the park with her kids two weeks before school let in. With Niko, Eve had two kids, Mattie, a shy five year old mother's boy with his father's eyes and a kind soul, and Ali, a strong willed girl at the age of three who was, to the shock of every family member,  _ blonde _ . Sure, Niko's mother had been blonde, but it didn't stop the questions from mother's who thought they knew everything. When Carolyn approached them, even her eyes had widened momentarily at the sight of the three of them. She was the new social worker assigned to their school, and more recently, assigned to Oksana. 

"Good afternoon Eve, I trust your summer has been well?" She asked, not looking at her directly from the bench they were on. 

"It has been, we-"

Carolyn sighed, "I'm not really here for small talk. Astankova, how much do you know about her?"

"Me? Well.. she was my student about three years ago. Back when I was still teaching English. She was a good kid," Eve shrugged, "bright, a little opinionated, really really good at research essays. She had an accent so strong that sometimes we had to fake acknowledge the things she said, but the way she said them proved she was smart. She wasn't untruthful if that's what you're asking." Eve eyed the social worker, "I don't want to be pushed to say things I don't mean to say." She added.

Carolyn nodded, ".. that's what I thought. Over the summer I've been trying to get to know her, usually our investigations stop once the teacher is removed but.. her uncle seems to think something is wrong with her, with the way she's behaving. But she's healthy, she has a boyfriend- a nice boy, she seems to have a friend or too as well..  I just don't know why she refuses to speak to me."

Eve watched as Mattie played chicken with his little sister on the swing set, ducking under her legs when she swung towards him. He was going to get a black eye.. "Mattie! Be careful!" She called out to him, nervously clutching the arm of the bench. "Do you usually take student aides during the year?"

"I do.. but they're normally early grads who just need to fill their schedule with something." 

"Look Eve, I'm not going to force you to do this because I feel like it's shoveling the load of my job onto someone else. So instead, I'm going to ask. Do you think you could take her for a period or two and.. asses her? She trusts you.. I think. Just get to know her, let her help you prepare graduation, run errands. Keep her busy.."

"Why would Oksana-"

"Actually, she prefers to go by Villanelle now.. don't ask me why. Maybe you could ask her.." Carolyn drifted off.

Villanelle? What kind of name was that? 

"Okay.. well, why would Villanelle trust me?" 

"I'm not sure.. but she did mention you by name-" The sentence was punctuated by the sound of Mattie being kicked in the face by his sister, and then the inevitable cries that followed.

___

In hindsight, the conversation with Niko could have probably gone better. Maybe she could have explained the situation better, or chosen an occasion that wasn’t in front of the kids.

Mattie, who was still sporting two toddler-sized foot shaped bruises in the center of his face, was animatedly telling his father of his day through a bite of broccoli. Niko, smiling at him, nodding along- “Yeah dad! And then we went to go get ice cream and mom let me get TWO scoops!”

“Two scoops huh kiddo?!” He met Eve’s eyes over the table with a playful look in his eyes. Eve hummed in response over a sip of her wine, eyes drifting towards Ali who was really making a mess of her chicken nuggets- it was a phase she was going through, if she didn’t have something dinosaur or minion shaped, she just would not eat it. Appeasement seemed to be the parenting strategy that worked best.. for now.  “So when we were at the park, you’ll never guess who we ran into..” Eve began, taking a bite of her upsettingly not dinosaur shaped chicken.

“Who? Was it Steve? Because I’ve had a word with him and-“

“No, no. It wasn’t Steve, although one of these days you’ll find out I’m right about him being gay. No, I saw Carolyn, the new social worker? She’s handling Oksana’s case.”

“Still? I thought that was over and done with,”

“Mommy? What does gay mean?” Ali piped up from her spot, dipping a sticky finger into her ketchup. Niko sighed, motioning with her hand for her to parent this whilst he turned to their son.  “Well baby girl, gay is a word used for people who like others of the same gender. Like Tyson’s fathers, a boy loving another boy.” The little blonde scrunched up her face at the description, gears turning in her head before she proclaimed, “I think I’m gay.”  Eve let out an alarmed laugh and patted the child on the head, “Let’s wait until you’re a bit older, eh Love bug?”

“Anyway, I thought the case would’ve been long over too but apparently Oksana’s been.. acting strange lately- stranger than normal I should say.”

Niko nodded, “I see. I guess that would make sense, I can’t imagine how messed up I’d be if I were approached by someone like.. that vile woman.”

“You see, but I’m starting to wonder if anything actually happened, the charges were never finalized.” Eve speculated, “And besides, Anna was a sweet woman- ridiculously in love with her husband.. what was his name? Maxim?”

Niko’s eyes narrowed, “Eve.. she’s a child predator. Or at the very least, she very well could be one.” He gruffed, “Geez, you’re the only person I know who would try and sympathize with someone like that.. all things considered.”

Eve’s blood ran cold, fixing Niko with a glare. He didn’t have the right for that one…

“Well.. it doesn’t matter.” Eve told him decidedly, “Carolyn asked me to change Oksana’s schedule so she could be my Teacher’s Aide, apparently she thinks that since I was her teacher once I could get her to- I don’t know.. open up?” 

“I’m not sure you should get involved Eve, it’s very nice that you want to but you don’t owe her anything.”

“It’s my job to get involved- both of ours. We’re teachers Niko.” Eve deadpanned.

Niko nodded, “I’m just asking.. Okay?”

\---

It wasn’t until Carolyn called her with the details did Eve really think about all the facts she didn’t know about the teenager. She knew she’d immigrated from Russia- presumably with her uncle, but she had no idea about the story behind it. According to the file that was sent over, or at least what Eve could make out of the blurbs which weren’t redacted for her safety, was that Oksana’s father had been imprisoned just before she graduated the seventh grade for crimes against the mother country. After that she’d been placed in the sole custody of her mother and step father for two years until an incident caused her to move with her Uncle. 

The files also held records of her grades from the last three years of high school. Eve already had a record of them, but the highlighted grades from a certain French class were suddenly nauseating. Followed were observations made by Carolyn from her notes: Oksana doesn’t respond to authority, has horrible eating habits, is out until odd hours of the night. They were normal teenage quirks she supposed but not for the girl she’d met her freshman year. 

Perhaps she’d given in to peer pressure. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to the end of the chapter! Thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> If you'd like to chat, or just follow me my tumblr is lolnothanksfam! 
> 
> Please remember to leave kudos and comments for your local fanfic writers <3
> 
>  
> 
> Huge shout out to paulavogels on tumblr for reminding me of how fun it is to write again!


End file.
